This application claims priority to Canadian Patent Application No. 2,332,201, filed on Jan. 24, 2001, and to Canadian Industrial Design Application No. 2001-0167, filed Jan. 24, 2001; the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference.
The invention is in the field of garments, particularly outdoor garments.
Jackets often have hoods, to provide a covering for the top the head while leaving an opening for the face. A wide variety of inventive hood adjustment mechanisms are known, as for example are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,088,838; 6,023,787; 5,369,809; 4,334,325; 2,581,366; and, 2,567,192. Multiple drawstrings have for example often been used to provide vertical and horizontal adjustments on jacket hoods. In many cases, one drawstring on each side of the hood affords vertical adjustment on either side of the face opening, along the temporal portions of the hood. There may also be a rear drawstring which affords adjustment of the position of the brim by lengthening or shortening the arc of the hood along the mid-line from the shoulders to the forehead. In some cases, a drawstring may also be provided to tension the hood circumferentially against the top portion of the skull (the cranium), in a manner analogous to a hat band adjustment. There remains a need for alternative mechanisms of adjusting the fit of a hooded garment to a wearer""s head.
Many outdoor jackets include relatively high collars, which may reach up above the chin of a person wearing the jacket. As a result, the slide fastener, such as a zipper, which typically runs up the front midline of the jacket may be brought into uncomfortable contact with the person""s chin or lips. This may be particularly problematic in weather that is sufficiently cold to make skin contact with a metal zipper slider potentially harmful.
In one aspect, the invention provides a hood drawstring arrangement that may be adapted to allow a single adjustment to exert tension along the vertical sides of the front face opening of the hood, which will tend to vertically compress the hood, as well as simultaneously exerting a circumferential tensioning of the top portion of the hood, which will tend to contract the hood across the forehead and around the back of the wearer""s head (tensioning the cranial portion of the hood). The drawstring arrangement may be adapted to exert these tensioning forces while leaving the brim of the hood free to protrude above the face opening.
In one aspect, the invention provides a hood having a head covering and a face opening. The hood may include an adjustable drawstring arrangement providing for simultaneous circumferential tensioning of the head covering and vertical temporal tensioning of the face opening. The drawstring arrangement may include one or more cranial cord segments encircling the head covering, connected to left and right temporal cord segments on each lateral side of the face opening. The cord segments may co-operate so that manual tensioning of the cranial cord segment(s) acts to tension the temporal cord segments; or, manual tensioning of either the left or right temporal cord segment acts to tension the cranial cord segment(s). The cranial cord segments may be generally horizontal, and the temporal cord segments may be generally vertical. The cord segments may be elasticated, and may form a drawstring that runs in channels or passageways formed in the hood material. The hood may include a brim that has an inner cranial cord segment flexibly connected to an outer brim reinforcing member, so that the inner cord segment can assist in securing the hood to the wearer""s head while the brim reinforcing member helps to preserve the shape of the brim.
In an alternative aspect, the invention provides a jacket adapted to cover a person""s chest and having a collar adapted to cover a persons neck, in which a front opening of the jacket is closable with a curved slide fastener, such as a zipper. The slide fastener may be disposed vertically along the anterior midline of the jacket over the chest, and then curve laterally so that the slide fastener is offset from the anterior midline of the collar. This arrangement may avoid positioning the slider of the slide fastener over the wearer""s mouth when the fastener is in a closed position with the slider at the top of the fastener. In some embodiments, the curved slide fastener may be coated with a resilient polymeric compound such as a thermoplastic polymer, which may assist in achieving the curved conformation of the fastener. The polymeric coating may help to make the slide fastener water resistant.